16 – Chapter 16
Filthy Pervert
After A Tao finished explaining which hour of the morning yielded the most fragrant petals for brewing wine, Duan Yuan’s lips pressed into a tight line.
“Is this all you usually eat? What else?”
“Hmm…” A Tao thought very seriously. “Sunflower seeds, dried fruit—I’ve tried those too. I can’t remember anything else. Probably haven’t eaten much beyond that.”
“Uh…” Duan Yuan fell into deep thought, momentarily speechless.
Duan Zheng, who had prepared a full table of midnight snacks according to the young master’s instructions, happened to come over just then to call them to eat. Upon hearing Second Miss Lin’s claim of being “not picky,” his jaw dropped, almost unable to close.
This is what she calls not picky?
He had thought the young master’s refusal to eat red meat was already “fussy” enough, but now here came someone even more particular. Listen to what she was saying—drinking dew and honey was one thing, but specifically from peach blossoms? Could the taste really be different?
Thinking of the table full of seafood, vegetables, and meat, Duan Zheng’s face fell.
All that preparation for nothing? So now he was supposed to go collect honey from peach blossoms at this hour? Was he a little bee?
“Unacceptable,” Duan Yuan finally spoke after a long silence. “Eating only these things, how could you possibly grow up?”
“Who says I haven’t grown up?” A Tao retorted indignantly.
Just then, Duan Yuan’s hand happened to brush past the “flat as a board” area on A Tao’s chest. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and A Tao instantly flushed with anger, her face puffing up. “Filthy pervert!”
!! Duan Zheng was stunned. What? Filthy pervert? Had he heard that right?
Someone actually dared to call someone a filthy pervert right in front of their young master? That took at least ten doses of bear-hearted, leopard-gut courage!
To avoid getting caught up in any trouble, Duan Zheng took a step toward the door.
“Come with me for the midnight snack,” Duan Yuan’s low voice reached everyone’s ears.
That was it? He really wasn’t angry at all? Duan Zheng felt that the young master had been acting far too mysteriously these past few days. Silently, he retreated to a corner of the room and began observing this Second Miss Lin, wondering what kind of magic she possessed…
Meanwhile, A Tao thought of the two mouthfuls of rice she had tasted at the Lin family’s dining table, and her little face fell as well. “Ugh! What are we eating? Plain rice? It has no flavor at all, not tasty!”
Duan Yuan didn’t indulge A Tao. Instead, he scooped her up by the waist and strode steadily, though slowly, toward the door.
The short distance took Duan Yuan quite a while to cover. When they reached the dining room entrance, a servant who looked to be in her forties opened the door and ushered them inside.
The Duan household had quite a few servants and bodyguards. Carried in his arms like this, A Tao lost count of how many bows she received along the way. Everyone was extremely respectful, mostly keeping their heads lowered.
But this particular servant was different—she kept her head raised the entire time, her gaze fixed on Duan Yuan…
Every now and then, she would glance at A Tao, though her expression remained neutral. Only her slightly furrowed brows and the faintly upturned corner of her mouth betrayed her true feelings.
A Tao pretended not to notice, simply turning her head and wrapping her arms even tighter around Duan Yuan’s neck.
“What, getting addicted? Don’t want to let go?” Duan Yuan held the girl with one arm around her waist and the other supporting her bottom, as if carrying a child, and slowly took a seat.
A Tao wriggled a little. “I don’t want to eat rice.”
“We’re not eating rice. We’re having lobster and crab,” Duan Yuan’s tone was indulgent. “Try them first. If you don’t like them, you can spit them out.”
“Fine,” A Tao said, trying to get up and sit on the chair beside her, but Duan Yuan wouldn’t let go.So one walked while the other pulled, and within minutes, A Tao was sweating on her forehead, thinking to herself how this man could be weak enough to spit blood one moment and strong enough to be unyielding the next—what a handful!
“Sit right here and eat.” The man’s tone carried an undeniable insistence.
A Tao mentally raised the white flag in surrender. Just as she settled down, she suddenly felt a slight pain in her lower abdomen, followed by a warm flow that left her completely stunned.